Controversy resurfaces over Longmont councilwoman’s use of private email

Daily Camera (Boulder): Longmont City Councilwoman Polly Christensen blasted Councilman Brian Bagley on Wednesday night for making what she called “a personal attack on a fellow council member” — Joan Peck — during last week’s council meeting.

“The City Council is elected by the public to represent them and make wise, thrifty and rational decisions for the good of the community,” Christensen said at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

“We are not elected by the public to waste time and taxpayer money with political grandstanding and public harassment,” she said.

At the conclusion of the council’s June 27 meeting, Bagley brought up a May 23 email that Rainbow Ridge resident Matthew Napier had written after Peck attended an informal May 20 meeting in Napier’s home.

Bagley objected last week that Napier’s email made it appear that people came away from that neighborhood gathering believing that their council members are dysfunctional and that city staffers are too friendly with developers.

Bagley also criticized Peck, during last week’s council meeting, for communicating with Napier in a May 22 email exchange in which Peck used her personal email account, rather than her city government account — something he suggested violated Longmont’s open-records and “sunshine” policies as they apply to council members.